google voice

I was using Grand Central long before Google bought them. Grand Central was an exciting concept as it brought advanced telephony features to existing phone services. You could not use Grand Central unless you already had a phone. Ater Google re-launched Grand Central post acquisition as Google Voice, the world was prepared for Google to […]

Evidently at least one of the engineers at Google Voice woke up and came up with a new feature…Offline Texting. It was announced with the following blog post: Sometimes the times that we’re offline can be our most productive times. However, whe…

Toy Story (1995) is a phenomenal movie on many levels. We can all relate to the core story – the bright shiny new toy makes us forget about our old favorites. But the bigger and sadder story was how Toy Story itself served notice to the Disney animators, Disney had animation nailed – how could […]

I find it frustrating that Google Inc. keeps the service on such a tight leash. Despite this negligence, an ecosystem is forming around the service. Today’s GV topic is the OBI100 made by Obihai. Obihai puts a new twist on the ATA concept. The ATA is a little box that acts as a simple gateway […]

Out of left field, T-Mobile and Facebook launched Bobsled, a VOIP service that allows voice calls to anyone on your Facebook list for free. At this moment the entire blogging world is busy writing about it, so I skip the basics… and just run to some funny experience while testing it. First, here’s how you […]

News of Virgin Mobile starting to sell an Android phone is disruptive, to say the least. Not because of the phone – it’s a dinky little Samsung Intercept – but because of the plans. They are all contract-free, and start at $25. The basic level only gives you 300 minutes to talk, but it includes […]

(See update @ the bottom)Well, this did not take long. I’ve just speculated that Google & Sprint wanted testers before the commercial rollout of the Android-driven HTC EVO on June 4th – a few hours later I see that theory proven. I ran into trouble setting up Google Voice, and called the special number given […]

I love this service, have been using it ever since the early Grand Central days, and I really hope my Google Voice number is the one and only final phone number. Among many other benefits, I no longer have to check voicemail, take note of actions required and return the call – it all comes […]

One of my favorite apps from Google is their Google Voice service. It has completely transformed how I handle phone calls. Today Google has posted a comprehensive list of videos explaining how Google Voice can be tapped to your advantage. We don’t want to post the videos here. We will just post one video and […]

I recently wrote a post about avoiding the “Deferred Life Plan” and some related thoughts about personal productivity that came from Tim Ferriss’s book, The Four Hour Workweek. I would love to say that I’m the productivity guru. Unfortunately my wife reads my blog and she’d log in and add comments to dispel this rumor […]

The title pretty much says it all, and frankly, how is this possible in 2007 is beyond me. But wait, isn’t it 2009 (almost 2010?). Yes it is. An therein lies the rub. I wrote this two years ago, and the fact that most of it is still valid is quite sad. Fax technology should […]

We all have a vested interest in how data and data privacy is enacted by companies, regardless of the environment, cloud, mobile (laptop, cell phones), private Data Center, or anything else that is a combination of the above. Companies have a vested interest in keeping their customers data private and clear of distortion or error. […]

David Poque writing on NYTimes says Already, Google says it is readying a replacement for the Google Voice app that will offer exactly the same features as the rejected app—except that it will take the form of a specialized, iPhone-shaped Web page. For all intents and purposes, it will behave exactly the same as the […]

Gmail Labs added another small but useful feature: a small green or red phone icon along the sender’s name indicates whether they are within business hours according to their local time or not. The detail screen also shows current time where the sender is. I certainly find this addition useful, although the use case the […]

First of all, the basics: the absolutely best cookies on the face of Earth are Coach’s Oats Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies. Shame on you, Costco, for not carrying it anymore… now that you got me hooked, I have to mail order it at double cost. But today we’re talking about different kind of cookies – those […]